kescusay
@kescusay@lemmy.world
Developer and refugee from Reddit
- Comment on If AI was going to advance exponentially I'd of expected it to take off by now. 5 days ago:
Ah, did they finally fix it? I guess a lot of people were seeing it fail and they updated the model. Which version of ChatGPT was it?
- Comment on If AI was going to advance exponentially I'd of expected it to take off by now. 5 days ago:
Ask ChatGPT to list every U.S. state that has the letter ‘o’ in its name.
- Comment on If AI was going to advance exponentially I'd of expected it to take off by now. 5 days ago:
Not true. Not entirely false, but not true.
Large language models have their legitimate uses. I’m currently in the middle of a project I’m building with assistance from Copilot for VS Code, for example.
The problem is that people think LLMs are actual AI. They’re not.
My favorite example - and the reason I often cite for why companies that try to fire all their developers are run by idiots - is the capacity for joined up thinking.
Consider these two facts:
- Humans are mammals.
- Humans build dams.
Those two facts are unrelated except insofar as both involve humans, but if I were to say “Can you list all the dam-building mammals for me,” you would first think of beavers, then - given a moment’s thought - could accurately answer that humans do as well.
Here’s how it goes with Gemini right now:
Now Gemini clearly has the information that humans are mammals somewhere in its model. It also clearly has the information that humans build dams somewhere in its model. But it has no means of joining those two tidbits together.
Some LLMs do better on this simple test of joined-up thinking, and worse on other similar tests. It’s kind of a crapshoot, and doesn’t instill confidence that LLMs are up for the task of complex thought.
And of course, the information-scraping bots that feed LLMs like Gemini and ChatGPT will find conversations like this one, and update their models accordingly. In a few months, Gemini will probably include humans in its list. But that’s not a sign of being able to engage in novel joined-up thinking, it’s just an increase in the size and complexity of the dataset.
- Comment on Java at 30: How a language designed for a failed gadget became a global powerhouse 5 days ago:
I would argue that without consistent and enforced type hinting, dynamically typed languages offer very little benefit from type-checking at runtime. And with consistent, enforced type hinting, they might as well be considered actual statically typed languages.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing. Properly configured Python development environments basically give you both, even if I’m not a fan of the syntax.
- Comment on If AI was going to advance exponentially I'd of expected it to take off by now. 5 days ago:
It’s absolutely taking off in some areas. But there’s also an unsustainable bubble because AI of the large language model variety is being hyped like crazy for absolutely everything when there are plenty of things it’s not only not ready for yet, but that it fundamentally cannot do.
You don’t have to dig very deeply to find reports of companies that tried to replace significant chunks of their workforces with AI, only to find out middle managers giving ChatGPT vague commands weren’t capable of replicating the work of someone who actually knows what they’re doing.
That’s been particularly common with technology companies that moved very quickly to replace developers, and then ended up hiring them back because developers can think about the entire project and how it fits together, while AI can’t - and never will as long as the AI everyone’s using is built around large language models.
Inevitably, being able to work with and use AI is going to be a job requirement in a lot of industries going forward. Software development is already changing to include a lot of work with Copilot. But any actual developer knows that you don’t just deploy whatever Copilot comes up with, because - let’s be blunt - it’s going to be very bad code. It won’t be DRY, it will be bloated, it will implement things in nonsensical ways, it will hallucinate… You use it as a starting point, and then sculpt it into shape.
It will make you faster, especially as you get good at the emerging software development technique of “programming” the AI assistant via carefully structured commands.
And there’s no doubt that this speed will result in some permanent job losses eventually. But AI is still leagues away from being able to perform the joined-up thinking that allows actual human developers to come up with those structured commands in the first place, as a lot of companies that tried to do away with humans have discovered.
Every few years, something comes along that non-developers declare will replace developers. AI is the closest yet, but until it can do joined-up thinking, it’s still just a pipe-dream for MBAs.
- Comment on Java at 30: How a language designed for a failed gadget became a global powerhouse 6 days ago:
Hasn’t been updated since 2018. Does it still work?
- Comment on Java at 30: How a language designed for a failed gadget became a global powerhouse 6 days ago:
Oh, I know you can, but it’s optional and the syntax is kind of weird. I prefer languages that are strongly typed from the ground up and enforce it.
- Comment on Java at 30: How a language designed for a failed gadget became a global powerhouse 6 days ago:
Python is easy, but it can also be infuriating. Every time I use it, I’m reminded how much I loathe the use of whitespace to define blocks, and I really miss the straightforward type annotations of strong, non-dynamically typed languages.
- Comment on SignalFire: startups and Big Tech firms cut hiring of recent graduates by 11% and 25% respectively in 2024 vs. 2023, as AI can handle routine, low-risk tasks 1 week ago:
There’s inevitably going to be some rebounding from this. It’s probably true that the large language models these companies are betting their businesses on can do some of the things entry-level grads do, but we’ve already seen several of them fail because their MBAs didn’t realize that just barfing out code is only one part of what developers do.
Source: Am developer, currently working with LLMs and related tech, none of which would be able to get anywhere without someone like me doing the work.
- Comment on 1955 was as old in 1990 as 1990 is in 2025. 2 weeks ago:
I… can’t dispute that.
- Comment on 1955 was as old in 1990 as 1990 is in 2025. 2 weeks ago:
Sorry, I’ll make up for it with this weird music video that wishes you a nice day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mkiGMtbrPM
Hope it helps.
- Comment on 1955 was as old in 1990 as 1990 is in 2025. 2 weeks ago:
Ouch. Guess I deserved that inevitable retaliation.
- Comment on 1955 was as old in 1990 as 1990 is in 2025. 2 weeks ago:
Other ways to feel old:
- Smells Like Teen Spirit came out in 1991, just 22 years after the moon landing. As of now, it’s been 34 years since its release.
- Back to the Future came out in 1985, which is 40 years ago, and only 30 years from 1955.
- The Matrix is a 1999 film. It was old enough to drink… five years ago.
- Alex Warren, who is currently #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, hadn’t yet reached one year old on 9/11.
- The video game Doom came out in 1993. Pac-Man came out in 1980. 13 years between the games. But it’s been 32 years since Doom.
Should I go on?
- Comment on Toronto business owners are using AI-generated “concerned residents” to fight a proposed bus lane 2 weeks ago:
It’s… Well, it’s 100% fraud.
- Comment on Bing Search and Bing Custom Search APIs will be retired on 11th August 2025. 3 weeks ago:
I use Opera on for all my Bing-based Edge-recommending needs.
- Comment on Tesla Reportedly Has $800 Million Worth of Cybertrucks That Nobody Wants 3 weeks ago:
I’d buy one for about tree-fiddy.
- Comment on Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs. 1 month ago:
Nah. It’s not almost like that. Nope. It’s exactly that.
This is weaponized incompetence and stupidity.
- Comment on Crypto is now as stable as the US economy! 1 month ago:
Well. I stand at least somewhat corrected. The SWIFT usage seems experimental right now, but Kinexys is clearly in use in production.
- Comment on Crypto is now as stable as the US economy! 1 month ago:
OK, I’ll bite… Do you have any links to specific banks detailing their use of blockchain to make transfers to other banks?
- Comment on Crypto is now as stable as the US economy! 1 month ago:
You may work with banks that are experimenting with it, but it’s not going to replace things like SWIFT any time soon.
- Comment on Crypto is now as stable as the US economy! 1 month ago:
Except no it’s absolutely not. They use systems such as ACH and the Federal Reserve Wire Network. For international transfers, they use systems like the SWIFT network.
Why add a crypto middleman to transactions like those?
- Comment on Microsoft tells Windows 10 users to just trade in their PC for a newer one, because how hard can it be? 2 months ago:
Excellent breakdown. Well done!
And on top of all that, the article is specifically about Microsoft urging people to get rid of old hardware, which I take to mean NOT current-gen, bleeding-edge gaming hardware. So my suggestion was about not being forced to upgrade your hardware to keep having a usable computer.
- Comment on Microsoft tells Windows 10 users to just trade in their PC for a newer one, because how hard can it be? 2 months ago:
Translation: “Install Linux.”
- Comment on Windows 11 will soon let you know why your PC hardware sucks: Windows 11 will be able to explain why your PC needs more RAM and a better GPU. 2 months ago:
The answer is always going to be, “Because you’re running the incredibly bloated Windows operating system.”
- Comment on Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not) 2 months ago:
That’s the thing I’ve been most worried about. The media have largely capitulated out of (justifiable) fear of reprisal and violence. The fear is legit, but we depend on the media to speak truth to power especially when democracy is on the line.
This is why I no longer believe this will end without violence.
- Comment on Linux's Sole Wireless/WiFi Driver Maintainer Is Stepping Down - Phoronix 3 months ago:
Literally have the opposite experience. Fought with my old Brother printer constantly. My Epson Ecotank is rock-solid.
- Comment on What I learned from 3 years of running Windows 11 on “unsupported” PCs 7 months ago:
Not many, but plenty use various corporate applications that are Windows-only.
- Comment on What I learned from 3 years of running Windows 11 on “unsupported” PCs 7 months ago:
It’s some kind of locked-down version of GlobalProtect that’s integrated with a TPM module to prevent machines that aren’t running our corporate image on corporate-approved laptops from being able to connect.
There’s probably some kind of workaround, but I’m lazy and it’s easier just to power up the Windows machine now and then.
- Comment on What I learned from 3 years of running Windows 11 on “unsupported” PCs 7 months ago:
I only ever use Windows on my work computer, and only when I need access to a resource that requires our Windows-only VPN.
But seriously, “just use linux” is worthless advice. Lots of people use Windows for specific applications that don’t exist in the Linux ecosystem. For example, there are no Linux applications that come close to AutoCAD, and it simply doesn’t work on Linux.
Better advice would be to get new (or newer used) hardware if possible, if you absolutely need to use Windows, since this workaround will inevitably be “corrected” by Microsoft. Then you can do whatever you like with the old hardware, such as install and learn Linux at your own pace.
